Television receivers and the like



y 1962 E. 1. HARMA-N 3,036,154

TELEVISION RECEIVERS AND THE LIKE Filed June 16. 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FVQ. 2.

INVENTOR. fM/L I. fiflK/VA/V F, 17 WW 1777'0/F/VEY May 22, 1962 E. l. HARMAN 3,036,154

TELEVISION RECEIVERS AND THE LIKE Filed June 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR. N 1? HARM/4N GYM" 3,3,l54 Patented May 22, 1962 I This invention relates to apparatus for viewing television pictures and the like. The object of the invention is to provide a portable device of the indicated type, adapted to personal use, and which can be operated successfully in a variety of locations such as the users home and various other places.

In order to insure adequate viewing, in actual use, and

also to provide convenient transportation between various places of use, the device must comply with a number of requirements which are not easy to fill, particularly in combination with one another. The unit should for in stance have a compact and self-contained picture producing system; it should be able on a variety of supporting surfaces, such as a chair, a table or desk, a window sill, or for instance the top of a bookshelf; and it should allow orientation of viewing elements to suit the various supports on the one hand and the users stature and position on the other hand. I have found that the entire group of requirements can be met by a certain construction, including a characteristically formed, proportioned and arranged support structure for the receiver, as will now be described with greater particularity.

In the drawing appended hereto, FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a television receiver incorporating the invention; FIGURE 2 is an elevational front view of said receiver; FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the stand and of parts directly connected thereto, the latter parts being largely broken away; FIGURE 4 is a schematic view, indicating, in different positions, what is visible along line 44 in FIGURE 2; and FIGURE 5 is a schematic plan view of the elements indicated in FIGURE 4.

In FIGURE 1, the supporting stand is shown at and a TV receiver cabinet 11 is permanently but shiftably mounted thereon. It is shown as adjusted in one of the various positions which can be accommodated; fittings 12 being used for such mounting and adjustment. These fittings connect the bottom of the cabinet with the stand, the fittings being rigid with said bottom and frictionally slidable on the stand.

A lower portion 13 of the cabinet contains an upwardly oriented picture tube 14, together with means for the operation thereof, such means being shown as including a battery 15 and a set of controls of well known type, shown at 16. These elements 14 to 16 and the added circuitry means in cabinet portion 13 require no detailed description herein. It is however to be noted that, because of the inherently elongate design of tube 14 and the evident advantage of vertical orientation thereof toward an optical magnifier, the basic object of compact design is best achieved by means of a generally upright cabinet 11. Structural and other features of apparatus of that kind, considered independently of the cooperative structure for adjustably positioning the same, are disclosed and claimed in the copending applications of Edgar W. Creamer, Jr., et a1. and Ralph A. Bloomsburgh et al., Serial Nos. 774,998 and 788,316, filed November 19, 1958, and January 22, 1959, respectively, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

It is to be noted that the lower or circuit compartment 13 in cabinet 11, as it contains said tube, battery and circuitry means, or equivalent elements, generally is by far the heaviest portion of the complete, small and compact structure, supported by stand 10. The upper or to be set down firmly,

magnifier compartment 17, by contrast, is generally light. It includes little or nothing but an inclined semireflector 18, above the screen of the picture tube, and a spherically curved reflector 19 behind such semireflector, these relatively small and light, optical parts being suflicient to produce an enlarged, virtual image of the screen and of the televised pictures thereon.

Said image is visible, in direction A", through a front opening 21] of compartment 17; and a visor 21 is desirably provided above this opening to minimize the incidence of certain types of stray light. The visor is pivoted so that it covers opening 20, and thus protects the device, when not used for the viewing of pictures. The apparatus as shown is further provided with a carrying handle 22, suitably attached for instance to an upper portion of the circuitry compartment 13, as for instance by connectors 23.

Stand 10, in particular accordance with the invention, comprises arcuate, upwardly concave track means, as clearly shown in FIGURE 1.- Such track means is desirably provided by a pair of arcuate rod or wire members 31, 32, as indicated by FIGURE 2. The two are shaped tracks are interconnected by terminal and intermediate wire sections 33, 34, best shown in FIGURE 3. Thus the entire stand is readily provided by a simple, foursided wire structure, having uniform circular arc shapes permanently impressed on one pair of sides and having intermediate structure providing support means for such sides. In the plan view of FIGURE 5 this wire structure appears substantially as a plain rectangle.

It will further be noted from FIGURE 5 that the form and area of this support structure 10 largely coincides with that of the cabinet, in a plan view thereof, so long as said cabinet is disposed in a central, vertical position as indicated in FIGURE 4 by outline 11. In this position stand 10 is almost entirely hidden below cabinet 11. The stand accordingly adds nothing appreciable to the space requirements of the cabinet.

Tilting of cabinet 11 on stand 10 is allowed by the frictional sliding sliding of fittings 12 on tracks 31, 32; and, as shown in FIGURE 4, both forward and backward tilting can be carried to a considerable extent, by incorporating an appreciable portion of a semicircle in the arcuate curvature of tracks 31, 32. If it were necessary to view the receiver aperture 20 even in extremely tilted orientations, the tracks would have to be complete semicircles. Actually, the viewing generally includes at least some horizontal component, even when the receiver is placed on a very high shelf or on a very low floor portion or the like; and it is therefore sufiicient that the arcuate curvature of the tracks be equivalent to a fraction of a semicircle, for instance that it extend over about 45 to 60", as shown.

In order to remain uniformly stable, when tilted forwardly or rearwardly to the extent which has been indicated, and in accordance with an important feature of the invention, the apparatus is so designed that the center of gravity of the generally upright cabinet 11 remains in a substantially unchanged position between the front and rear portions 33, 34 of stand 10. To this end the arrangement is such that the centers CT of curvature of both tracks 31, 32, lie on a line or axis CA which passes through the center of gravity CG of the cabinet unit 13 to 22.

This correlation of the centers of curvature of the tracks with the center of gravity of the cabinet unit could, by itself, be achieved by arcuate stands of vari ous sizes. As already indicated, however, it is also desirable to make the stand small enough to allow positioning thereof in limited places, such as a narrow sill or cluttered desk. Such has been achieved by the invention; and in this connection it has been found particularly advantageous to arrange the heaviest portion of the upright cabinet 11, that is, circuitry compartment 13, in the lower part of the cabinet. By means of this arrangement the radius R from center line CA to the track and supportstructurebecomes relatively sho-rt,-see FIG- URE 4. Thus, in turn, 'a fairly substantial arcuate extent of the tracks, covering for instance an angle of 60 as aforesaid, can be incorporated in a track structure of small linear extension; and the. entire support structure occupies an area not appreciably larger than the bottom of the small and compact cabinet 11 itself.

The advantage of this arrangement will be understood most readily when reference is once .more made to FIGURE 5. In this figure numeral =11 indicates the the fore and aft stability of the receiver is nonetheless unaffected. a

Reference to both FIGURES '4 and 5 shows that the construction, as described, allows substantial tilting of the receiver between rearward and forward positions 11A, 11B, thereby providing adjustment to various eye'levels, as also indicated by the corresponding arrows A, A and A", while maintaining uniform stability of the device .on stand and minimizing the space requirements of said stand. 7

While only a singleembodiment of the invention has been described, it should be understood that the details thereof are not to be construed as limitative of the invention, except insofar as is consistent with the scope of the following claims.

I claim: '1. A-portable television receiver comprising: an up- 4 right cabinet with an aperture substantially occupying the upper front thereof for the viewing of televised pictures; a support structure downwardly spaced from said aperture and underlying thelower portion of said cabinet, said support structure having arcuate, upwardly concave configuration covering an area at least approximately coextensive with said lower portion of the cabinet; connector means s'ecured to said lower portion of the cabinet, slidably and frictionally engaging said structure having arcuate configuration; a television set disposed in said lower portion of said cabinet and including an upwardly facing picture'tube, a circuit system, and battery means, the battery means being relatively large and heavy in order to actuate the tube through the circuit system for the duration. of an extended program; and a reflector system of relatively light weight compared with the weight of the tube and battery means, for

providing a magnified image of the screen of said tube through said aperture; a major portion of the set, including said tube and battery means, being disposed below said aperture in such a way as to place the center of gravity of the cabinet, set'and reflector system below said aperture; said arcuate structure being centered about a horizontal-line parallel to said front and which passes substantially through said center of gravity.

2. A receiver as described in claim 1 wherein said support structure consists of substantially rigid, arcuately bent wire segments substantially coextensive with said lower r part of the cabinet.

References. Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,369,742 Halpin Feb. 22, 1921 2,165,078 Toulon July 4, 1939 2,292,854 Wilcox Aug. 11, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS.

18,5.64/ 34 .-Australia -f July 22, .1934

552,476 Italy 'Dec. 3, 1956 

